I. Thesis Statement ??????????????????????? 1 II. Shopping Centers & Organizations Definitions ??????????????????????. 1-2 Definitions ?????????????????????? 2 Regional Shopping Centers ???????????????.. 2-3 Pruneyard v. Robins ?????????????????? 4-5 NJ Coalition Against War in the Middle East v. J.M.B. Realty ?. 5-6 Industry Reaction ??????????????????? 7-9 Litigation ??????????????????????. 9 VIII. Conclusion ????????????????????????.. 9-10 Is an individual?s right to freedom of speech, as granted by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, valid on private property, which is owned by someone else? Specifically, can an organization not associated with a shopping center use the shopping center?s property to promote their cause? The U.S. Supreme Court has left the answer to this question up to the individual states. The majority of states, to date, have answered ?no?; however, several states, most notably California and New Jersey, have answered ?yes?. What is the basis for each State?s decision and how do these decisions affect the shopping center industry? In order to understand how the courts? decisions affect the shopping center industry, we must first understand what a shopping center is and who the organizations are.
As referred to in the two most notable court cases, Pruneyard v. Robins (?Pruneyard?) and NJ Coalition Against War in the Middle East et al. v. J.M.B. Realty Corp. et al. (?JMB?), a [regional] shopping center is defined as one that is between 300,000 square feet and 1,000,000 square feet in size and includes at least one large, over 100,000 square feet department store. During the 1990?s, regional shopping centers have given way to super regional shopping centers. Super regional shopping centers are over 1,000,000 square feet in size and usually have four or more large department stores. For comparison in Arlington, Texas, The Parks at Arlington Mall and Six Flags Mall would be considered super regional malls while Festival Marketplace Mall would be considered a regional mall. The organizations that were involved in Pruneyard and JMB consisted of peaceful political activists who were protesting Zionism and the Gulf War, respectively. As far as a shopping center is concerned, anyone not associated with operating the center i.e., employees, contractors, etc., or retailers/merchants would be considered a potential customer or part of an organization, depending on if their reason for coming to the mall was to shop.
The Essay on The Mall As Disneyland
Almost all Americans have heard the name Walt Disney. He created Disneyland, the happiest place on Earth. Walt Disney plays a large role in American society than just providing entertainment; many developers turned to part of his park, Main Street USA, for ideas when they started to design modern day American shopping malls. In “The Mall as Disneyland” Richard Francaviglia argues that Walt Disney ...
The shopping center, of course, wants everyone to be a customer since their primary business is commercial in nature. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads, ?Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or the press; or the right of people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.? (Amendment I, 1) While this powerful amendment has very broad implications, it also has limitations. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that the Federal Constitution and its accompanying amendments give no general right to free speech in shopping centers since the centers? course of business is not ?state action?. State actions are those actions taken by local government entities or public schools. This limitation is what forces the U.S. Supreme Court to leave the decision of free speech in shopping centers up to the individual states, their state constitutions and police powers.
It has been argued, and sometimes accepted, that today?s regional shopping center has taken the place of yesterday?s downtown business district. From 1972 to 1992 the number of regional and super regional malls in the nation increased by roughly 800% (National Research Bureau 1).
The Essay on Federal Courts State Courts And Concurrent Jurisdiction
The United States court system has seen a trend of increased involvement of the federal courts in criminal matters, which used to fall within the exclusive domain of the state courts. Most criminal cases violate only state law, and therefore are tried only in the state courts. Henry Glick would agree that counterfeiting, treason, and illegal immigration are some of the unique cases, which can only ...
The reason for this phenomenal increase is the migration of residents from the city to the suburbs and the accompanying relocation of retail from downtown to the ?burbs?. Shopping centers, by design, have made themselves one-stop destinations. Food, entertainment, apparel and other consumer goods are centralized in a climate-controlled environment. The downtown business district of old once afforded social and political organizations access to the masses. There is no question that the downtown streets and sidewalks were, and still are, public property. To make the distinction between a public downtown and private shopping center more confusing, it is not uncommon for a mall to have a U.S. Post Office as a rent paying merchant, or a police substation in a vacant space. Additionally, it is standard procedure to hire off-duty police officers to supplement mall security guards and even on-duty police officers, although much less frequently. Another blurring of the distinction between public and private property is when a private mall developer uses some public funds to construct the mall or its infrastructure. State courts, so far, have ruled that the use of public funds does not convert a private mall into public property. (Mall of America, 1).
Today?s shopping centers provide social and political organizations an ideal place to interact with thousands of people on a daily basis. Shopping centers spend a great deal of money to entice people to come to the mall. For example, during the two weeks preceding the grand opening of Grapevine Mills Mall in Grapevine, Texas, the owners of the shopping center spent approximately $2 million on advertising to draw an anticipated 50,000 shoppers during their opening weekend. The shopping centers have a contractual obligation to advertise the center on behalf of its merchants. Organizations, rightfully so, see the shopping center as one-stop destination. They can reach the largest amount of people in the quickest and most economical fashion by going to the mall. For example, during a non-holiday week, traffic at The Parks at Arlington Mall averaged 55,000 customers, at Six Flags Mall 32,000 and at Festival Marketplace Mall 25,000, approximately. During the Christmas Season, which runs from the day after Thanksgiving to New Years Day, traffic will usually triple and sometimes quadruple.
The Essay on The Necessity Of Law And Order In Democracy And Shopping Centers
The convenience of our shopping centers and their market environments, lie solely upon the foundation of democracy, and it's political structure. There is a distinct connection between shopping centers and democracy, where both factors are extremely important to our country, and both work in very similar ways. In our history, the growth of democracy was complimentary with shopping malls, in ...
The U.S. Supreme Court case of Pruneyard Shopping Center v. Robins, appealed from the Supreme Court of California, involved a group of high school students who were trying to peacefully solicit support for their opposition to a United Nations resolution against ?Zionism?. On a Saturday afternoon, a particularly heavy customer traffic day for shopping centers, the students set up a table inside of Pruneyard Shopping Center, distributed pamphlets and asked mall customers to sign petitions. Court records indicated that the students? actions were not bothering the mall?s customers. A mall security guard asked the students to leave since their activities were against mall regulations. The students left and later filed a lawsuit against the mall to allow them to circulate their petitions. The students lost their suit in Superior Court and also in the California Court of Appeals. They then appealed to the California Supreme Court, where the lower courts? verdicts were reversed. Pruneyard Shopping Center then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The issues that the courts took into account during these proceedings included the students? right to free expression and the mall?s property rights.
Within these broad issues surfaced the questions of whether a privately owned mall loses its private ?status? when it invites the public onto its property, whether forcing the mall to permit uses other than shopping constitutes the taking of property without just compensation and also the deprivation of property without due process of law. The U.S. Supreme Court decided a state?s constitution takes precedence over the Federal Constitution when dealing with the issue of free speech if the state constitution offers more power to its citizens. Such was the case in California, and also New Jersey, Oregon, Colorado, Washington and Massachusetts. These states protect speech and petitioning, when reasonably done, in privately owned shopping centers. California?s Constitution states, ?Every person may freely speak, write and publish his or her sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of this right. A law may not restrain or abridge liberty of speech or press.? (Pruneyard, 8) The U.S. Supreme Court does not consider it taking a mall?s property by allowing the signing of petitions because the mall is able to severely limit when, where and how this activity takes place.
The Essay on Analyzing "Shopping For American Culture" By James Farrell
The United States has more malls than high schools and the number of shopping centers is increasing each year (378). It is clear that malls are a large part of our society. In “Shopping for American Culture,” James Farrell claims that the 45,000 malls in America define American values and culture because malls are the ideal environment for social interaction, aesthetic appreciation, ...
The mall is allowed to limit these actions in such a way as to minimize any disruption to their normal business. As such, there should not be any negative impact on the value of the mall. Furthermore, the mall is able to erect signage next to this ?unwelcome? activity disclaiming anything that?s being said and further stating that state law protects this activity. In the case of New Jersey State law, it values an individual?s freedom of speech over a mall?s property rights. The belief is that a shopping center gives up a certain amount of its rights by inviting the public to use its property for almost anything, even though the mall?s primary business is commercial in nature. If mall access was denied to ?non-shoppers?, it was reasoned that a major channel of communication to the public would be cut off. This was not acceptable to the U.S. or California Supreme Courts. The New Jersey Supreme Court case of New Jersey Coalition Against War in the Middle East, et al. V. J.M.B. Realty Corporation, et al. involved a coalition of several organizations who opposed the United States? involvement in the Persian Gulf War. These organizations tried to hand out leaflets at ten regional shopping centers and one community center, which is significantly smaller in size than a regional.
The majority of the properties denied access to the organizations. However, four did grant permission and the organizations distributed their leaflets at two of them. The coalition sued for access to the malls in order to distribute leaflets. Although the war was over by the time this case reached the New Jersey Supreme Court, the Court ruled in favor of the coalition. The Court accepted that regional shopping centers had taken the place of downtown business districts. It didn?t accept the shopping centers? argument that distributing leaflets was contrary to its main purpose of encouraging as many people as possible to come to the mall and shop. The Court sighted many instances where the malls allowed and promoted activities that had nothing to do with shopping, such as children?s ID programs, Santa Claus and Easter Bunny visits and supplying community booths for the public to use on an ongoing basis and special community days throughout the year. As with the first case study, the Court ruled that the coalition?s free speech was more important than the mall owners? property rights and that the mall?s interests were taken into account by allowing the mall to govern when, where and how leaflets were distributed.
The Essay on Youth and Mall Culture
Introduction Shopping malls have taken the Indian scenario by surprise and the Indian youth are increasing attracted to the malls. It has grown at an incredible pace all across India, especially in the metropolitan cities. The earlier uncomfortable shopping process, under the scorching summer sun and sultry weather has now been put at ease. The few words that come to our mind when we hear the word ...
Additionally, the coalition?s freedom of speech was sufficiently narrow in scope to further protect the property owner?s rights. The coalition was only allowed to distribute leaflets. The coalition could not hound customers, nor could it conduct speeches, demonstrations or parades. It could only speak with patrons in a normal voice and could not use megaphones, bullhorns or even a soapbox. Finally, it was determined that the coalition could not solicit any donations from customers since that action would directly compete with the mall?s tenants. The New Jersey Supreme Court had to answer three questions when ruling on this case: (1) the nature, purpose and primary use of the malls; (2) the extent and nature of the public?s invitation to use the mall?s property; and (3) the purpose of the coalition?s activity in relation to both the public and private use of the property. In this case, the Court combined questions one and two because they thought they were so interwoven. The primary purpose of the mall was to make a profit by attracting as many people as possible into the mall. Once in the mall, it was believed that a large number of people would become shoppers and make a purchase.
With that in mind, malls advertised to everyone with promotions that many times had nothing to do with shopping. All were invited to come to the mall. As a result of this open door policy, coupled with the mall?s ability to strictly regulate the coalition?s activities, which the Court took special note of, the Court reasoned that both the mall?s and coalition?s activities could coexist without significantly harming each other. How do the decisions from these cases affect the shopping center industry? Centers that are located in a state whose constitution offers the freedom of speech more protection than the Federal Constitution (California, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington, Colorado and Massachusetts) have a slightly heavier burden to carry than those in other states. A shopping center manager must now formulate standard operating procedures that state where all ?demonstrations? will take place, when they can be held and how they are to be held in order to minimize disruption to customers and merchants. Although the courts have given shopping centers great latitude to regulate these ?demonstrations?, they have provided a whole new avenue of litigation. Each section of a mall?s standard operating procedures is questionable and, therefore, litigious. Why was one area chosen over another? How come a higher customer trafficked area couldn?t be used? Why doesn?t the mall allow someone to demonstrate every day and what?s wrong with having two opposing groups demonstrating at the same time? Is it too burdensome to require organizations to provide insurance as a precondition to using mall property? If not, than what dollar limit of insurance is sufficient to protect the mall?s best interest? Answers to these questions must be applied to all demonstrations uniformly and without bias.
Even when a shopping center isn?t required by law to allow demonstrations, they still should have a written plan to deal with demonstrators? requests. During the mid-1990?s it was common practice for a mall?s ?community access policy? to be as follows: no non-retail related activities on mall property. This meant no Boy or Girl Scouts and no Salvation Army. It also meant a lot of very unhappy and influential organizations. As a mall manager who had to enforce such a policy, explaining the policy in the following way soothed many people over. If the mall allows the Boy Scouts to use mall property, than it must also allow the Ku Klux Klan in or face a discrimination lawsuit by them. Rather than face a possible lawsuit, everyone would be denied the use of the mall, except for shoppers. With the proliferation of e-commerce, these access policies have been greatly eased. It is still important, however, that each mall have a standardized method of accepting and scheduling non-shopping activities within the mall. At Six Flags Mall for example, there is a community room that is available to all organizations for a nominal clean-up fee of $20.00 per use. They use a standardized reservation form, which allocates the room on a first-come, first-served basis.
The room is away from the main corridors of the mall and has its own, separate entrance. The only rules governing the room are no outside food or drink is allowed and no smoking is allowed. At Festival Marketplace Mall, there is a center court stage that is available free of charge to most performing arts organizations, school bands, dance schools, choirs, etc. There is a standardized form that applicants must fill out to book the stage. A certificate of insurance is required, or it can be waived if all participants sign a waiver and a hold harmless agreement. Each group is required to submit a sample of their performance. This sample is used to determine if the group is appropriate for the stage. Some groups have been denied use of the stage for the following reasons: too many members to fit on the stage, proposed music was too loud, or the act was not suitable for a family oriented business. Although each one of these denials are grounds for litigation, each of them has a solid, documented reason for being invoked. The shopping center industry must be prepared for new litigation since the realm of freedom of speech is always a slippery slope. As outlined above, requests from demonstrators are a major area for litigation. Less than twenty-five states have decided if malls must allow demonstrators access to their property, which includes the states named throughout this paper. What waits to be seen is how the remaining states will rule when the question of free speech versus property owners? rights is raised. It also waits to be seen how the various courts will rule on the ?reasonable regulations? malls can impose on demonstrators. It seems foolhardy for a court to set down a judgment about these regulations that could affect all malls in one state when each mall is different. The same guidelines usually don?t work for each location.
The shopping center industry is left waiting for the next lawsuit to be filed regarding freedom of speech. The outcome of the suit will depend on the state?s constitution where the suit is filed. If the shopping center loses and every mall in that state is forced to allow demonstrations, I would guarantee an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Will the Supreme Court hear the case? It?s doubtful, based on previous court decisions. Potential new litigation to come from California, New Jersey, Washington, Oregon, Colorado and Massachusetts might raise the question of whether a shopping center needs to subsidize demonstrations on mall property. Since the insurance policy the mall requires primarily benefits the mall, shouldn?t the mall pay for it and not the demonstrators? Might the mall be required to pay for other items that the demonstrators can?t afford, like signs? As a certified shopping center manager with over ten years of experience and a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers, I am troubled by the rising legal costs of doing business. (Cesare 1) The general public is invited into shopping centers to spend their money on food, apparel and/or entertainment. Newspapers are not forced to print editorials, shopping centers should not be forced to allow someone access to its valuable commodity, customers, without some type of reimbursement
Bibliography:
Works Cited National Research Bureau, Shopping Center Directory 1994, Eastern Volume (1993) Rehnquist, J. ?Pruneyard Shopping Center V. Robins, 447 U.S. 74 (1980)? United States Supreme Court 09 June 1980. 05 April 2000
Wilentz, C.J. ?New Jersey Coalition Against War in the Middle East, et al. V. J.M.B. Realty Corporation, Etc. et al. (A-124/125-93)? New Jersey Supreme Court 20 December 1994. 05 April 2000 ?Amendment I.? First Amendment Cyber-Tribune 03 January 1997. 07 April 2000 ?Judge rejects motion to dismiss trespassing charges in NH access case.? Shopping Centers Today 23 December 1998. 07 April 2000 ?Mall of America wins key access ruling.? Shopping Centers Today 12 March 1999. 05 April 2000
